Amazon slashes subsidized price on Fire Phone to 99 cents ahead of Apple's 'iPhone 6' unveiling
With hours to go before Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone, Amazon slashed the price on its first foray into the smartphone market, the Fire Phone, to just 99 cents with a new two-year service contract.
The Fire Phone sale comes just a month and a half after the handset first shipped to consumers, sporting a 4.7-inch display with an array of cameras for 3D head tracking. Previously, the 4G LTE Amazon Fire Phone was priced at $199 with a two-year service contract, matching the entry price of Apple's flagship iPhone 5s but offering twice the storage at 32 gigabytes.
Amazon famously does not reveal sales figures for its hardware, including the Fire Phone, Kindle Fire, or Kindle e-readers. But data tracked by research firm Chitika in August found the Fire Phone accounting for about 0.015 percent of all U.S. and Canadian smartphone traffic.
Those figures, coupled with the swift discount on the Fire Phone, could suggest that Amazon's first stab at the smartphone market hasn't sold quite as well as the online retailer hoped it would.
The price cut also comes just as Apple is expected to announce its own next-generation handset, known informally as the "iPhone 6." Apple is set to hold a keynote presentation Tuesday in Cupertino, Calif., where it's widely expected to show off its redesigned new iPhone in two new screen sizes of 4.7 and 5.5 inches.
The Fire Phone represents Amazon's latest attempt to compete with Apple in the hardware market, attempting to tie customers into its stores and ecosystem of services with tightly integrated software and devices. The company also competes with Apple's iPad with a range of Kindle Fire devices.
The Fire Phone and Kindle Fire all utilize Amazon's low-margin, high-volume strategy. Some have speculated that some of its devices actually lose Amazon money, in hopes that they will be able to sell customers in to services like Prime, as well as content sales for books, movies and music.
The Fire Phone sale comes just a month and a half after the handset first shipped to consumers, sporting a 4.7-inch display with an array of cameras for 3D head tracking. Previously, the 4G LTE Amazon Fire Phone was priced at $199 with a two-year service contract, matching the entry price of Apple's flagship iPhone 5s but offering twice the storage at 32 gigabytes.
Amazon famously does not reveal sales figures for its hardware, including the Fire Phone, Kindle Fire, or Kindle e-readers. But data tracked by research firm Chitika in August found the Fire Phone accounting for about 0.015 percent of all U.S. and Canadian smartphone traffic.
Those figures, coupled with the swift discount on the Fire Phone, could suggest that Amazon's first stab at the smartphone market hasn't sold quite as well as the online retailer hoped it would.
The price cut also comes just as Apple is expected to announce its own next-generation handset, known informally as the "iPhone 6." Apple is set to hold a keynote presentation Tuesday in Cupertino, Calif., where it's widely expected to show off its redesigned new iPhone in two new screen sizes of 4.7 and 5.5 inches.
The Fire Phone represents Amazon's latest attempt to compete with Apple in the hardware market, attempting to tie customers into its stores and ecosystem of services with tightly integrated software and devices. The company also competes with Apple's iPad with a range of Kindle Fire devices.
The Fire Phone and Kindle Fire all utilize Amazon's low-margin, high-volume strategy. Some have speculated that some of its devices actually lose Amazon money, in hopes that they will be able to sell customers in to services like Prime, as well as content sales for books, movies and music.
Comments
Do you smell it? Redolent of cold sweat and urine? That’s the smell of desperation.
"We have to, because our device won't compete with whatever Apple shows tomorrow."
Still too much...
Fire Sale on the Fire Phone.
Why would anyone buy an Amazon phone? The thing is like an endless commercial. Buy this buy that, blah blah blah...
It should have launched at $0 to begin with. It's the only way it could have ever gotten any traction, and its about what its worth. Amazon was insane to launch at $200 under contract.
WPOS.
What about all the people who paid $200 for this device under contract?
Will Amazon give them all refunds? I hope so.
Personally, if I had payed $200 and then Amazon reduced the price to 99 cents without issues me a refund a short time later, I would be pissed.
LOL. This is too sad.
But I'll bet the stock went up. /s
LOL. This is too sad.
But I'll bet the stock went up. /s
actually it went down, 1.17%
Amazon couldn't even pay me enough money to use that piece of trash.
Remember all those first-time iPhone buyers back in 2007 that rioted after Steve Jobs dropped the price a month (or whatever) later? How's about all those iHaters that jumped on that price-drop to ridicule the buyers?
Well? I expect (and demand) that Amazon do the right thing and refund the difference to those first-time buyers too. I know they won't, but they should.
Slashing the price by $200 a month after launch. Talk about success.
It should have launched at $0 to begin with. It's the only way it could have ever gotten any traction, and its about what its worth. Amazon was insane to launch at $200 under contract.
I agree. They screwed up on this one. If they had launched at 99 cents, it could have been a mediocre hit. Now it's pretty much dead...
Also, I don't think this phone is as "Selling Amazon" focused as people keep giving it crap for. Look past the biased reviews and you'll see a decent phone, but being the same price as an iPhone 5S (arguably the best phone available) is crazy, who would get this when you could get a 5S at the same price?
But I'll bet the stock went up. /s
actually it went down, 1.17%
Get with it...
I agree. They screwed up on this one. If they had launched at 99 cents, it could have been a mediocre hit. Now it's pretty much dead...
A hit that loses you close to $200 per unit isn't much of a hit at all, even in Amazon's crazy world.
What about all the people who paid $200 for this device under contract?
Screw them. There is something called personal responsibility, and this happening was pretty much a no brainer.
[IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/48299/width/200/height/400[/IMG]
I'm waiting for 99 cents off contract.
But only if they throw in Amazon Prime.